Nindooinbah
About Nindooinbah
Nindooinbah Dam was originally constructed in 1961 as an off-stream storage for the Beaudesert township. It is no longer required for water storage purposes and is retained as a small recreation area.
As an off-stream storage, Nindooinbah wasn’t built across a waterway such as a creek or river and is filled by pumping from the Albert River, and not stream flows. During heavy rainfall events the dam receives very small localised inflows.
Nindooinbah is an un-gated dam which means that when it reaches 100 percent capacity, water flows over the spillway and into the river downstream. If you would like to be notified when the dam begins to spill, sign up to our free dam release notification service or download our public safety mobile app.
Public access is available to the dam wall embankment area. No other recreation activities are permitted.
Current capacity
- KEY INFORMATION
- WATER SOURCE
- LIVING NEAR DAMS
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Key information
NameNindooinbah
WatercourseOff-stream storage
LocationNear Beaudesert
Catchment area0.55km²
Length of dam wall240.00m
Year completed1961
Type of constructionClay core earth embankment dam
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A dam safety review in 2012-13 identified that soil erosion in the embankment at Nindooinbah was possible.
To reduce this risk, Seqwater lowered the dam’s full supply level by three metres. Lowering the water level in a dam reduces water pressure and loads on the dam wall, and can also create temporary storage to increase its capacity to manage heavy rainfall events.
Nindooinbah’s current full supply level is about 79% of the original full supply level. What this means is that when the dam’s water level rises above 79%, we release water through a siphon to gradually bring the level back to 79%. Nindooinbah does not contribute to the region’s water supply so the lowering has no impact on water security in SEQ.
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Flood mitigation
All dams help mitigate flooding to some extent. The peak outflow from a gated or un-gated dam during a flood event is less than the peak outflow that would have occurred had the dam not been built, because some water is held in the dam while it is spilling. This means that water flow slows down as floods pass through the dam.
It’s important neighbours and people downstream of dams know what to do in the unlikely event of an emergency. Each of our dams have an emergency action plan (EAP) in place to enable us to respond quickly to potential incidents in partnership with the Bureau of Meteorology, relevant emergency services and local councils. For Nindooinbah Dam, this is Scenic Rim Regional Council
